September 30, 2010

PROFESSORS: “Why do they hate us?” Backlash against New Class overreach. . . . Plus, from the comments: “Interesting that Benton’s take is largely that they just don’t understand us. Maybe they understand us too well. The academy is currently very out of step with the values and beliefs of mainstream America. Whether that is good or bad, it has consequences. And our response again is that they don’t get it. We have all the answers and we rarely show the willingness to question our own orthodoxy.” I think it’s also the sense that education has been oversold, to its consumers’ detriment and its producers’ advantage.

The discussion in the comments is pretty interesting. There’s also this: “I’m not nearly as worried about what the general public thinks of professors as I am about what the college administrators think of us. If we have enemies, and arguably we do, that’s where most of them live.” Well, that’s where most of the bloat comes from.